With the FIA presidential election just days away the row over Max Mosley’s efforts to ensure he is succeeded by Jean Todt and not Ari Vatanen is the subject of great scrutiny.

Vatanen has taken the step of appealing to a French court to ensure next week’s elections are carried out fairly, a move which drew an angry reaction from the FIA which insisted its procedures are fair and transparent.

It is typical of the FIA under Mosley that it should react to Vatanen’s request for legal oversight in such a heavy-handed way. If the FIA had nothing to fear from an investigation it would welcome it.

But with Mosley publicly backing Todt and other FIA members have been lobbying for him, it’s no surprise the FIA is being viewed with suspicion.

The latest row began after the Daily Telegraph published letters from two senior FIA officals who had been lobbying for Todt. The FIA Foundation reacted by insisting that the pair – FIA director general of region one Peter Doggwiler and director general of the FIA Foundation David Ward – were backing Todt in a private capacity not endorsed by the Foundation.

The support of Mosley and Ecclestone has proved a double-edged sword for Todt. It may have guaranteed the backing of some clubs, but for others Todt is tainted by association with the current regime.

A reminder of that came in Mosley’s letter to the FIA three days ago in which he heaped praise upon himself over the recent Renault scandal:

More recently we had an extraordinary plot to crash a car deliberately during a race. Again, there was controversy but this time the car manufacturer responsible took action and the truth was quickly established.

The FIA first became aware of this plot during last year’s Brazilian Grand Prix, yet took almost a year to investigate it. This was not ‘quickly establishing’ the truth. Why did the FIA wait so long? Was it because Briatore sided with FOTA in the teams’ row with the FIA earlier this year?

A close call

The election probably wouldn’t be generating quite this much antagonism if one candidate was comfortably in the lead. We could be looking at a fairly close call.

Jean Todt is known to be backed by the clubs of Bahrain, Monaco, India, France, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. However earlier this week he claimed to have the support of the majority of clubs in Africa, Asia, South America, Europe and the Middle East.

It’s difficult to understate the importance of these elections for the future of Formula 1. It’s been a turbulent 18 years under Mosley, who has often made a dramatic and expensive change to the rules only to undo it a few months or years later. Meanwhile the sport has been dragged through a seemingly unending sequence of damaging scandals.

So it is beyond me how some journalists with the access and opportunities to cover the election are choosing not to. Such as Joe Saward, who wrote on his blog:

I have completely ignored the FIA elections in recent weeks. This has been a deliberate policy as I do not wish to be accused by one side or the other of favouritism and given the shenanigans going on between them it is inevitable that even objective reporting will be viewed as partisan. In addition I feel that the whole process demeans the federation.

Not expressing a preference is one thing but this uniquely important, once-in-a-generation event should not be overlooked out of fear of treading on people’s toes.

An open, honest, fair election would not demean the federation. A rigged vote and a coronation would demean it, but we’re less likely to know that is the case if some journalists aren’t bothering to look. My disappointment in Saward’s stance is all the greater as I admire much of his writing.

Personally I have no qualms about expressing a preference: On the whole I am deeply dissatisfied with what Mosley has done for Formula 1 – particularly in the five years since he last promised to resign. I am therefore not willing to support a candidate who has his backing. And certainly not one who displayed the disdain for sportsmanship Jean Todt did in the 1989 Paris-Dakar Rally and the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix. At the last count 77% of this site’s readers felt the same.

Whoever wins this election has the chance to fix this, and if they fail it could be another 18 years before they are replaced.

Accredited F1 journalists often stand accused of giving the FIA an easy ride out of fear they will lose their precious permits. In 2007 the media colluded with the FIA in covering up a horrendous cock-up where confidential McLaren and Ferrari data appeared in a public FIA document.

Now more than ever we need the FIA to be held to account. A timid media with a a vested interest in preserving the status quo is not going to achieve that.

Hear Hear! I couldn’t agree more.
I like Jean Todt a lot, and was against calls for Max to resign when he was caught “with his pants down” in the media recently. My argument there was that that was not something which should have a bearing on his ability to do his job.

I also knew very little about Vatanen.

In the past few months I have tried to learn more.
Frankly, after looking back over past FIA scandals and witnessing the more recent Singapore-Gate scenario I would have massive problems with anyone that Mosley endorsed having anything to do with the future of F1.

Thanks Keith, we may get sick of all the politics but this is very, very important.
It’s a credit to Mosley how hated he is, he isn’t even running for election and yet we’re mostly terrified of whoever he endorses (though even if Todt didn’t have his backing there would still be plenty opposed to Jean).
Schumacher has written to pretty much the world, that he wants Todt, the FIA clearly isn’t free in all of this, even if it may only be a few it risks the reputation and more importantly the legitimacy of the entire process.
It doesn’t matter who you support, the election should be free and fair otherwise it is a false win which imposes a ruler that does not have majority support of the motorsport world and that will lead to all kinds of problems in the future.
Finally, I would like to say thank you to this site and the journalists who are brave enough to do their jobs. I always believed they were there to be free and report the truth and uncover any wrong doings (not only is this right but it will help the election and give it more credibility), but if they don’t do that they may as well not get paid and cancel their blogs and stop wasting our time.

the way Max has behaved in the lead up to this election it seems that the FIA is not totally clued up on what democracy is all about.
To openly threaten members that don’t side with the current regime, it reminds me of many of the worlds totalitarian dictatorships…and the sudeo elections they have to appease the UN.
The old should seriously be put to sleep and allow a breath of fresh air in.

I’d like to think that a lot of the lesser clubs – members from nations will smaller car clubs – will see Mosley’s interference and vote against Todt. Mosley’s line seems to be “Vote for Jean, because he’s going to get in anyway, and when he does, he’ll cut support and funding for anyone who didn’t vote for him”.

Why did the FIA wait so long? Was it because Briatore sided with FOTA in the teamsâ€™ row with the FIA earlier this year?

I suspect it was because they didn’t have Witness X at the time. At the time, it was simply Piquet’s word against Renault’s; all the telemetry proved was that he crashed. The FIA probably had to wait until they had an iron-clad case and nail Briatore rather than move too soon and have a less than water-tight case.

I think they would have. Max Mosley is the President of the FIA, but he is not the FIA. I think too many people bounce the term “corrupt” – which is a very dangerous accusation to make – around simply because they don’t like Mosley, and I think they judge too many of his decisions on previous ones he has made. I’m not saying Mosley is blameless, but his responsibility is greatly exaggerated and that the fans are just as bad.

Agree, Mosley is a good villain and scapegoat some of the time. Take now for example, Mosley isn’t the only one in the FIA lobbying for Todt. I think the FIA still would have needed something concrete for the investigation of Singapore to take place though.

Perhaps. I am not convinced though, which is enough reason IMO for anything that Mosley touches to be treated as tainted these days. Having read Joe’s article on Jean I don’t think Mosley could corrupt him much more than he already is, so the point is moot in this case I guess!

Being involved in amateur racing for a long time at various locations around the globe I am not unaware of the corruption that goes on even at local levels. But when you actually look at the hierarchy of the FIA, it’s council and Forumla 1 particularly it makes racing in Thailand (off the track) look like kindergarten in terms of what I thought was rampant corruption! On the track it’s still like racing dodgems, but that’s another matter altogether!

In the letter he says Jean is the most suitable person to replace him. He also goes on to say heâ€™s outstanding â€śsportâ€ťive manager(yeah saw that in austria 2001 & 2002), then he goes on to blabber something about Michelle Yeoh & road safety(completely irrelevant of course), what really shocked me was this & can you believe what he said? Read his own quote:-

â€śFinally,I must emphasise he(Todt) would not in any way be a motor industry candidate.He would not have any special relationship with his former company,Ferrari, nor with Peugeot Citroen , the manufacturer behind his former rally, cross country & Le-mans teams. He would preserve the independence of the FIAâ€ť

When he says heâ€™s not from motor industry, I would like to know what was Jean Todt previously? A Catholic priest ? Can you possibly believe this fellow Max? Its like Bismark endorsing Hitler for the top post. Max I must admit is a terrific deceiver. What are this “so called members” doing? & who exactly are these members? He also mentions that he got over a 100 messages from â€śtheseâ€ť members pleading him not to step down. Hah , poor â€śmembersâ€ť, Max must have blackmailed these poor souls. Todt imo will be as bad as mosley if not worse. God save f1.

To me, it would be a big surprise if Ari won this election. I fear that the Max Mosley Fan Club has its tentacles so deep inside every little part of the whole organization that old favors gonna hand it to Todt. But as long as there is a glimmer of hope…

I fear the same.We all know that honest people never get elected in elections. Iâ€™m damn sure that Todt will be the next prez. he has the backing of some of the most powerful names in the sport. He gave up his position at Ferrari as he had one eye on the top post. I think a deal was struck between Max & Todt in 2007, the only possible obstacle in their way would be Ron Dennis & we all know what they did to him. So the coast is clear. Welcome to the new
â€śFranĂ§ais Dictatorâ€ť who will make sure the sport is finished off!

I attribute the success of modern day ferrari to Jean Todt. He is the architect of this modern day team.They were no where after the death of Enzo in 1988. He quickly transformed a struggling team into a winning one. although some of the dubious, dirty, cheap tactics might never been forgotten, the man must get some credit for transforming the team. the point Iâ€™m trying to make:

1) How can a team, which owes its success in recent time not be supportive of the man who guided them to success?
2) How can a man, who got a platform, in the form of ferrari to demonstrate his managerial skill( I know they were cheap & dirty) no be supportive of his former team?

His ties with Ferrari are too deep & too strong for him to be able to provide transparent governance.

Jean todt is a name everyone associates with 3 things

1) FERRARI
2) SCHUMACHER
3) CHEATING

Iâ€™m not sure if people would associate his name with

1) HONESTY
2) TRANSPARENCY
3) FIA PRESIDENCY.

Hence imho Todt must not be allowed to contest the election, if he does contest Iâ€™m damn sure heâ€™ll win, because heâ€™s got the backing of the red Italian mafia & S&M Mosley.

Remember this!! Anyone endorsed by Mad Max has to be mad. Bad company spoils even good people. Max & Todt have been very close to each other since the latterâ€™s retirement from Ferrari. So we don’t know yet as to how much Jeanâ€™s been influenced by Mosley. Mosley is like a pandemic.

And finally haven’t we had enough of one “Jean?? Remember Jean-Marie Balestre, the eccentric fella? It was because of this man that we’ve ended up with Max Mosley :( & now Max is returning the favour by vouching for Jean Todt. Jean I tried to finish off the sport, Jean II will make sure he finishes it off!!Too many Jeanâ€™s & too many Maxâ€™s are bad for the sport. Isnâ€™t it? so imho we do not want any more British or Frenchmen . We need someone who can â€śFINNISHâ€ť the job for us, the fans. So I highly recommend a â€śFINNISHâ€ť gentleman by the name Ari Vatanen who is ofcourse is from finland & is finnish. Iâ€™m sure heâ€™ll finnish the unfinnished job at the FIA. :)

Great post mp4. The main point here â€” â€śHis ties with Ferrari are too deep & too strong for him to be able to provide transparent governanceâ€ť â€” is already happening: why, SCHUMACHER, a Ferrari employee is DEEP involved in Todt campaign?

He has pressure some clubs writing a letter with this tone of critique:

â€śâ€¦I have to say I was astonished and disappointed by the way some of the big clubs have acted during this election period: it appears they have made up their minds before even reading Jeanâ€™s policy proposals or meeting himâ€¦This is not my idea of transparency or professionalism…â€ť

This isn’t about policy to some, but maintaining the order and their status, Ari is the biggest threat to that with his proposed ‘clean up’.
Schuey will endorse Todt all day long, the Frenchman helped make him a legend. It’s wrong but few seem to be willing to say it or do anything about it.

Ferrari have been rather quiet, they seem to want to keep the FOTA peace. That will change if Jean is elected.
We don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. People may be keeping opinions to themselves; their is no point shooting themselves in the foot now with no clear favourite but it is the journalists who should be looking at this closely and exposing it. Then it would be free and clear to us as right now we are all guessing.
I still think Ari can be elected, I’m fairly optimistic.
Only some details have been released on policy and yet Jean is the villain and Ari the hero :P

I go along with your sentiment. Todt is a corrupt man. He gobbled up 100 million mclaren dollars. Dunno what he did with that money. Maybe heâ€™s bribed Max & the others using that same money? Is that a possibility ?

I think the legal action taken against Martin Brundle for his comments about the 2007 sypgate affair say everything you need to know about why journalists choose their words carefully. Also, if your lively hood relied on your FIA press pass you would choose your words more carefully too.

Also, Joe Saward’s blog is a personal blog that he does in his own time for no charge. Surely he is free to give any opinion he wants (or not). It seems a little unreasonable to demand anything from him.

I’m not demanding I just wish everyone would be a bit bravery and that it wasn’t such a dictatorship. The press should be free they shouldn’t have their careers damaged because they write something those in positions of power don’t like. We wouldn’t accept it in society so it shouldn’t be tolerated in the F1 world.

Excellent article, Keith – as you say, the matter is too important for the future of F1 and motor sport to be ignored.

One point, however: I do not think Ferrari will be as happy about a Todt presidency as everyone assumes. Luca di Montezemolo effectively forced the Frenchman out at Ferrari and I suspect that there is little love lost between the two. Luca’s support for FOTA is surely evidence that he has abandoned Ferrari’s “special relationship” with the FIA, perhaps in the knowledge that it has done nothing but harm to the company’s image to be associated with such as Mosley.